


Loving Is Easy

by crankthatadri



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Band camp, M/M, Summer Camp, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23691124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankthatadri/pseuds/crankthatadri
Summary: “So, uh. Yeah, I’m Lance. I play sax.” He said awkwardly.“Keith. Trumpet.” He said with his arms crossed.“So…did you already pick a bed or…?” Lance asked. He just wanted to put his luggage away so he could meet back up with Hunk and Pidge.“No. You can choose. I don’t really care.” Keith didn’t make eye contact, Lance noticed.“Okay. Uh, well if it’s okay with you, I like to sleep on the window side so uh. Yeah.”......L: hey, you ready to head back downstairs?H: yeah meet you outside your roomLance walked to the door. He looked over at his roommate. He was on his phone and his bed had only a fitted sheet and pillow on it so far.“Hey, uh. If you want, I can introduce you to my friends. They’re—”“Oh uh, I’ll pass. Thanks though.” Keith said, looking at Lance from the side of his eye.“Okay. Cool. Uh, anyway, I’ll catch you later, man.” Lance said. Keith nodded.As Lance walked out, he was greeted with Hunk’s face. Lances’ face said it all: this is going to be a long two weeks.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! this is my first published work so I apologize for a slow beginning. I promise it gets better haha.  
> edit 4/18: hey yall! i made some edits so this is easier to read now. i'm still learning how to use this site. that's all for now!

Day 1

  
It was early on a Monday morning. Lance and his family were on their way to the camp that he’d be attending for the fourth year in a row. Not just any normal camp, though. Band camp. He’d been attending with his two best friends for the past three years. This year, though, they had something big planned. A farewell to the camp, since it was the trio’s senior year. Lance looked out of the window to his mom’s old SUV and squinted against the sun rising over the sea. His headphones were tucked in his ears, which were beginning to hurt from hours of listening to music.  
  
He let his eyes somewhat adjust to the gleaming water. He wanted to swim in it so badly. He smiled, thinking of summers back in Cuba. Veradero Beach. He was determined to sneak out this year to feel the sand on his feet and the taste of the water.  
  
Lance glanced at his phone. It was 8:36. Almost check in time. He put his phone away, smiling lightly at the song playing. Loving Is Easy by Rex Orange County. It reminded him of his first year in band. A few songs later, they were finally at the university that he’d be staying at for the next two weeks. His mother put the van in park and Lance opened the passenger car door and stretched, groaning loudly.  
  
His mother opened the trunk of the van and he got his luggage out: two suitcases and a duffle bag, along with his saxophone. They began their trek to the Performing Arts Center.  
  
“Honestly, Lance, why do you need all of this? It’s two weeks.” Veronica, his older sister, said jokingly as the lugged one of his suitcases behind her.  
  
“Wow, it’s like you don’t know me at all, Vero. We’ve lived under the same roof for years and haven’t caught on to how extra I am? Fake fan.” Lance said back, sticking his tongue out. “Why are you even here? Mom is fully capable of dropping me off herself. Heck, I’m able to make the drive myself.” He said, glancing at his mom, who was holding his saxophone case.  
  
His mother rolled her eyes. “Ah, espera, mijo. It’s your last year! Plus, maybe Vero and I can have some time together, away from the house for a couple of days.” she said, with a playfully evil grin on her face, to which Veronica responded with an equally mischievous grin.  
  
“Wow, you guys would really get shitfaced without me. I’m hurt.” Lance said.  
  
His mom backhanded his arm, chuckling. “Language, mijo!”  
  
They finally reached the sliding glass doors to the PAC and walked in. Immediately, he scanned the crowd for his friends.  
  
“Lance!” he heard a familiar voice say. It was Pidge. She pushed her way through the crowd of teenagers waiting to sign in. She grabbed him in a huge hug. “Hey! Man, I thought you guys were gonna be late until I remembered your mom was driving.” she joked. Lance’s mom chuckled and hugged Pidge.  
  
“It’s always good to see you, Pidge.” His mother said.  
  
“Where’s Hunk?” Lance asked, scanning the crowd.  
  
“Checking in. Dude, this blows. Hunk and I aren’t in the same group this year! I’m literally praying you’re in the same group as one of us.”  
  
“Oh, what?! What group are you?” Lance asked, clearly distressed.  
  
“Green.” She said, pouting.  
  
Suddenly he was being pulled into a bear hug.  
  
“Laaaance!” Hunk exclaimed, squeezing Lance and lifting him up.  
  
“Huuuuunk!” Lance said, trying to breathe. Hunk set him down gently.  
  
“How goes it, man? Hi, Mrs. Lopez, Veronica.” Hunk said politely.  
  
Lance’s mom and sister smiled in greeting.  
  
“Man, I guess Pidge already broke the news, huh?”  
  
“Separated! On our last year of camp! I hope I’m in the same group as either of you.” He turned to his mom and sister. “I’m gonna go check in.” And he waded across the sea of campers to the table, where he saw a familiar face.  
  
“Allura!” he beamed at the silver haired girl.  
  
“Lance! Welcome back!” she stood up, hugging him over the table. She sat back down, looking at the long list of names. “Let me see…Lopez comma Lance…aha! My group this year, team blue.  
  
Lance groaned. Allura looked at him, clearly offended.  
  
“No, I’m happy I’m in your group this year, I was just hoping I was in the same group as Hunk or Pidge. Kinda sucks that we’re not in the same group for our last year here.” Lance explained. “I guess you counselors finally caught on to our mischief.”  
  
Allura rolled her eyes and smiled. “After the stunt you pulled with Dr. Smythe last year? Not a chance. Anyway, we’re almost all checked in, so if you want to say your goodbyes.” She said, motioning to his mom and sister.  
  
“Right. See you in a bit, then.” With that, he turned and waded through the crowd again.  
  
“Okay, guys. I think I got it from here.” He said to his mom and sister. “be safe, driving back, whenever that might be.” He gathered both of them in a hug. Lance’s mom kissed his cheek. Veronica punched his arm.  
  
“Okay, mi amor. Be safe and don’t be necio! If I hear anything going on…” his mom warned.  
  
Lance rolled his eyes. “Honestly, mama, you think I’d be that way?” Lance joked. “I love you guys.” He said, giving the two women another hug. The pair walked out the sliding doors.  
  
And with that, the trio glanced at one another.  
  
This was going to be a great two weeks.

***  
  
As Lance and Hunk dragged their luggage up the stairs of the dorm building, Lance complained in between breaths of air.  
  
“Man, I can’t believe we forgot to sign each other up as roommates this year!” Lance huffed.  
  
“At least we’re on the same floor?” Hunk offered. He was just as disappointed as Lance.  
  
“I guess. It’s just not the same, man. I just hope my roommate isn’t some weirdo, that would be just my luck this year.” Lance said.  
  
The pair finally reached the top of the stairs, pushing the door at the top open. They walked down the hallway, slightly out of breath. Lance was in room 205, Hunk in room 210.  
  
They arrived at Lance’s dorm. The pair dramatically parted ways. Lance noticed the door was partially ajar. He heard voices arguing inside and hesitated to open the door. He did it anyway and saw probably the most handsome and built man standing in front of a boy probably his own age.  
  
“…wanted to go here!” the younger one said. He was clearly upset. The older man looked up at Lance and smiled, putting his hand out for Lance to shake.  
  
“Hey! You must be Lance?” he said. Motioning to the name tag on the door. “I’m Takashi. Call me Shiro. This is my little brother, your roommate, Keith.”  
  
“Shiro, I’m seventeen.” The younger one grumbled.  
  
Shiro rolled his eyes. “Keith here is upset that he had to come to this band camp this year. I just transferred here this past fall.” Shiro explained. “I’m also one of the counselors this year. Team Black.”  
  
“Oh, then you know Allura?” Lance asked.  
  
“Heh, yeah. She’s a good friend.” He glanced at his phone. “Ah, crap. Gotta go.” He started for the door. “And Keith? Please. Be nice.” Shiro sounded like a tired dad. He left the room and then it was just the two boys.  
  
“So, uh. Yeah, I’m Lance. I play sax.” He said awkwardly.  
  
“Keith. Trumpet.” He said with his arms crossed.  
  
“So…did you already pick a bed or…?” Lance asked. He just wanted to put his luggage away so he could meet back up with Hunk and Pidge.  
  
“No. You can choose. I don’t really care.” Keith didn’t make eye contact, Lance noticed.  
  
“Okay. Uh, well if it’s okay with you, I like to sleep on the window side so uh. Yeah.”  
  
He started moving his luggage towards the far side of the room. As he was putting his things away, he hummed the last song he was listening to when he arrived at the campus; some song by Twenty One Pilots. He didn’t get to finish it, and the song was stuck in his head.  
  
He finished and once he was satisfied, he texted Hunk.

L: _hey, you ready to head back downstairs?_  
H: _yeah meet you outside your room_

Lance walked to the door. He looked over at his roommate. He was on his phone and his bed had only a fitted sheet and pillow on it so far.  
  
“Hey, uh. If you want, I can introduce you to my friends. They’re—”  
  
“Oh uh, I’ll pass. Thanks though.” Keith said, looking at Lance from the side of his eye.  
  
“Okay. Cool. Uh, anyway, I’ll catch you later, man.” Lance said. Keith nodded.  
  
As Lance walked out, he was greeted with Hunk’s face. Lances’ face said it all: _this is going to be a long two weeks._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Without thinking Lance said, “The offer still stands.”  
> Keith looked at him, puzzled.  
> “To meet my friends. I, uh, they’re sitting over by the windows. If you want to join.”  
> Keith smiled shyly. Lance felt his face getting warm. Keith was too cute.  
> “Uh, yeah. Lemme just…” and he nudged Lance’s hand with the cup in his own. Lance hadn’t realized his hand was still in the same place, under the Sprite.  
> “Oh! Yeah, sorry, my bad.” Lance chuckled. He gathered the other two cups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter two! I've decided I'm dedicating this whole fic to band kids who can't go on their end of year band trips bc of a certain virus. i sympathize with yall. i'm going to try and post once a day, but let's see how that works out lol. if not every day, then every other day. i really want to finish this fic.  
> anyway, enjoy!

Day 1 pt. 2

After a long day of camp activities, Lance. Hunk and Pidge were finally able to get dinner at the university’s cafeteria. Lance was exhausted. From the time he left his room, he hadn’t been back once. He’d seen Keith in his music theory and history class and passed him as he went to conducting with Dr. Smythe. Neither time did the two interact. For some reason, deep down, Lance really wanted to have a good impression on Keith. He just really needed Keith to like him.

As the trio sat down to eat, Lance was finally able to talk all about his new roommate. He explained the whole situation about Keith not wanting to be at this camp and how Shiro was his brother, etc. He left the part out about Keith wanting to like him; he didn’t want the other two to get the wrong idea.

“I dunno. Maybe he’s shy or something.” Pidge said, as she poked at her food.

“Yeah, I guess. He just really seems like the EdgyTM type, you know?” Lance said between bites of pepperoni pizza.

“I mean, yeah, from the way you’ve described him, but hey, he could surprise you.” Hunk said.

Lance shrugged and changed the subject.

“I can’t believe we’re not in the same group this year, man. That’s how we all became friends.”

“Yeah, it’s shitty.” Hunk said. “I guess last year was the last straw.” He said, with a faint smile on his face, remembering their scheme from last year.

“Dude, come on,” said Lance, “it was just some water balloons and whipped cream—”

“While that’s true, I don’t think Dr. Smythe has forgiven you.” Pidge chuckled.

Lance threw his hands in the air.

“It’s not MY fault he was caught in the crossfire!”

Hunk and Pidge laughed at him, remembering the look on Dr. Smythe’s face, as he was pelted with water balloons, and Lance’s face as he realized who he’d just thrown at.

The door to the cafeteria opened again, which caught Lance’s attention. It was Keith and Shiro. They appeared to be arguing again but were trying to keep it on the downlow. 

“Ohp. Speak of the emo.” Lance said, motioning to the pair walking in.

Hunk and Pidge glanced back at the two.

“Damn! That guy is ripped!” the two said.

“Forget him! The short one! That’s my roommate.” Lance hissed.

“Is that…a mullet?” Pidge asked.

Lance hadn’t talked to his roommate long enough to notice that.

“Oh, my god. Yes. How iconic.” Lance said.

The pair in front of him turned back to face him.

“I dunno, man. My argument still stands. Maybe he’s just shy.” Pidge said. She downed the rest of her lemonade.

“Whatever. I’m gonna go get some more to drink.” Lance said.

Immediately, two cups were in his face, the holders sporting puppy dog eyes. Lance chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Fine, but one of you has to do it tomorrow.”

He gathered the cups and walked over to the soft drink fountain. He set down the cups and began filling them. Powerade for Hunk, pink lemonade for Pidge, and Sprite for himself. As he was filling the last cup, his own, he saw someone walk into his peripheral vision. He looked over and it was none other than Keith. He was holding a cafeteria cup identical to Lance’s.

“Oh, hey man!” Lance said, smiling.

“Hey. I, uh, wanted to apologize. Uh, for earlier, I mean.” He shuffled his feet and met Lance’s eyes for a split second. Lance’s heart started beating faster. He had a really cute face.

Keith continued, “I’m just not great, uh, with new people. And, like, new environments. And uh, yeah. I just didn’t want you to think I was an asshole or something.”

Keith’s eyes met Lance’s again.

“Oh! Hey, man, don’t sweat it. I get being nervous in a new place, believe me. My family immigrated here from Cuba when I was like ten.” Lance said.

“Oh, wow.” Keith said. He crossed his arms.

Lance’s heart was beating faster. He wanted Keith to like him so bad.

Without thinking Lance said, “The offer still stands.”

Keith looked at him, puzzled.

“To meet my friends. I, uh, they’re sitting over by the windows. If you want to join.”

Keith smiled shyly. Lance felt his face getting warm. Keith was too cute.

“Uh, yeah. Lemme just…” and he nudged Lance’s hand with the cup in his own. Lance hadn’t realized his hand was still in the same place, under the Sprite.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, my bad.” Lance chuckled. He gathered the other two cups.

“You need help?” Keith asked as he finished filling his cup.

“Nah, I work at my dad’s restaurant back home. I got this down to a science.” Lance said.

Keith trailed behind Lance back to the table. Lance set the cups down and pulled up a chair for Keith. As they sat down, Lance introduced them to each other.

“Guys, this is my roommate, Keith. Keith, these are my friends, Manuia and Katie, but you can call them Hunk and Pidge.”

Keith raised an eyebrow and said, “Interesting nicknames.”

The pair in front of him smiled.

“Lance dubbed me ‘Hunky Hunk’ the first year we were here. Name stuck, I guess.” Hunk said.

“Yeah, and unfortunately for me, my idiot brother gave me that nickname when we were younger and had the audacity say it in front of these idiots when my family was picking me up one year. I haven’t been able to escape it, so I’ve just accepted it.” Pidge explained.

“Ah.” Keith said, smiling slightly

“So, Lance here tells us your brother is the team black leader?” Hunk said.

“Oh, uh, yeah. He’s a music education major. He transferred here recently since this university offered more for him in terms of his classes.” Keith’s leg was bouncing wildly.

“Nice. Yeah, Pidge and I are really considering going to school here when we graduate. Got a lot of good memories and we already know our way around, so why not?” Hunk said.

Keith looked at Pidge.

“Aren’t you, uh, no offence, a—”

“—bit young to be thinking about college? I get that a lot, it’s okay. I skipped two grades and I’m at the top of my class.” She explained. Keith nodded in understanding.

“What about you?” Keith asked Lance.

“College? Ah, I don’t know. I’m not really fit for all of that.” Lance said. He hated talking about college. “What I _do_ have is a great gig at my dad’s restaurant, so yeah.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Lance, I am tired of this self-slander! You’re literally at the top five percentile in your class!”

Lance rolled his eyes, not wanting to talk about it anymore. He turned to Keith.

“What about you?”

Keith took a moment to process. He didn’t like being the center of attention.

“Oh, uh. Well, I’m a homeschool kid, so like. Not much else to talk about, I guess. Not really sure I’m gonna do the whole college thing or not.” He shrugged. “Guess I’ve never really given it much thought.”

“I can respect that.” says Hunk, nodding.

“Yeah. That’s what’s great about college, though. It’s always going to be there.” Pidge added, glancing at Lance, to which Lance stuck his tongue out.

“Alright, campers!” Allura’s voice said loudly. “Five more minutes until we head back to the Performing Arts Center for our first movie night! I’d suggest putting your things away and start gathering by the door.”

Lance heaved a dramatic heavy sigh and got up. Once again, he was leaving with more cups than he bargained for and walked over to the conveyor belt at the end of the cafeteria.

As he walked back to the table, he felt…strange.

He met back up with the other three and they walked towards the crowd of students together. As they walked out the door, Lance hopped on Hunk’s back. Hunk, laughing, held on to the bottoms of Lance’s thighs.

“Man, I hope we have a Disney movie as a choice tonight. I seriously don’t know what I’ll do if there isn’t one.” Lance said.

“Seriously? You think they won’t? Disney movies are basically all they’re allowed to play.” Pidge said.

“Fair point.” Said Lance.

Lance turned to Keith, who was on the left side of Hunk, looking straight ahead.

“So… Keith.” Lance said. Keith looked up at him. Lance’s heart started to beat fast again. He gripped Hunk’s neck with his arms. Hunk pretended to not notice. “What’s your favorite Disney movie?”

“Ah. Well…” he trailed off, looking past Lance.

Lance’s eyes went wide. “No.” he said.

“Yeah…” Keith said, looking playfully ashamed.

“YOU’VE NEVER SEEN A DISNEY MOVIE?!” Lance exclaimed, prompting stares of disbelief from other campers.

“I just never got around to it?” Keith said, trying to not crack a smile.

“I just…oh, my god. Oh, my—I just…okay. Since we’re gonna be living with each other for two weeks, I have to show you _something._ ” Lance said.

Keith smiled and nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”

Lance’s arms gripped Hunk ever so slightly more and he smiled back at Keith.

As the four of them reached the PAC, Lance got off of Hunk’s back.

“Thank you, my good sir.” Lance said with a funny accent.

“Whatever, man. Let’s go see what our choices are for movie night so I can determine if I’m going to be able to sleep or not.” Hunk said tiredly.

They all trailed into the small theater in the PAC and took their seats. Hunk led the group, followed by Pidge, Lance, and Keith. Once they picked a spot, they sat down.

Allura walked up on to the stage.

“Okay you guys. It’s time to choose a movie!” This prompted cheers from the campers. “Okay, you guys know how this works. I’m going to put up a movie in my hand, loudest cheer is the one we watch. Okay so, first up. Moana!”

Lance nearly fell out of his chair. He cheered at the top of his lungs, as did Hunk and Pidge and a vast majority of the campers.

“Okay. Wow. Uh, okay next is…Coco!” said Allura. The cheers were slightly quieter.

“Aw damn. Why do we have to choose from good movies?!” Lance wondered out loud. He cheered anyway.

“And last, but not least…The Little Mermaid!” said Allura. The cheers were almost nonexistent.

“I guess that settles that.” Allura said. “Moana it is!” she said excitedly. “I’m going to go put this on the projector and we’ll be ready to go. Feel free to sing along, you guys!”

Lance squirmed in his seat. Hunk and Pidge were beaming.

“Okay, definitely _not_ sleeping.” Hunk said.

“So, what’s this one about?” asked Keith. Lance turned his attention to him.

Keith was sitting back with his arms crossed, his eyes looking genuinely curious.

“Basically, it’s about this girl from a small island trying to give the heart of a goddess back to her. The thing holding her back is the fact that her dad won’t let her leave their island. It’s really good, probably one of my favorites.” Lance explained. Keith nodded, lost, but intrigued.

“You say that about every Disney movie.” Pidge said.

“Yes, but I decide that by whether or not I can belt out in song during said movie.”

Pidge laughed.

The theater went black and they pointed their attention to the projector screen.

Keith let his stare linger on Lance for one more second.

About fifteen minutes into the movie, Lance’s and basically everyone’s favorite song came on; How Far I’ll Go. Lance, someone who liked to talk with his hands, also liked to sing with his hands. It was a very dramatic reenactment of the whole song. It was like Lance’s voice was the loudest of all the ones singing along. At least to Keith it did. He felt like he couldn’t keep his eyes off of the boy sitting next to him. He’d never met someone so sure of themselves. And he’d for sure never smiled as long as he did while watching Lance sing this song he’d never heard.

When the song was over, Keith realized he was barely breathing. Lance turned to him beaming and out of breath from holding out the last note of the song.

“Well?” Lance asked.

“Hm?” Keith asked, puzzled, not only about the question, but also about why his stomach had butterflies.

“You like the movie so far?” Lance asked, smiling.

“Oh! Yeah. It’s pretty good. The hyperrealism is kind of freaking me out though.” Keith replied with a short chuckle.

Lance nodded. “Yeah I get that. Super real backgrounds and details, but not so real looking people.”

“Yeah. But it’s good. I really like her voice.” He said. _And yours._ He thought.

“Auli’i Cravalho is freaking amazing. As is Lin-Manuel Miranda.” Said Lance.

Keith looked at him blankly.

“The voice actress that plays Moana and the guy who wrote the songs.” Lance explained.

“Ohh.” Said Keith.

Lance chuckled.

“Don’t worry. I promise, two weeks with me and you’ll catch on to all the shit I’m always rambling about.” Lance said with reassurance.

Keith nodded, relieved.

…

The campers watched the rest of the movie, and once it was over, it was time to head back to their dorms. Lance was exhausted, as were Hunk and Pidge. Keith was too but was better at hiding it. They parted ways with Pidge and walked up the stars to their floor. Lance and Keith stopped at their door and Hunk kept walking, waving bye and saying goodnight to the pair.

It was just them now.

Lance fumbled for his room key, but Keith was one step ahead of him. He had the door opened by the time Lance found his key, which made him laugh.

The pair walked into the room.

“I’m gonna shower.” Said Keith, as he walked over to his dresser drawer.

“Okay, sounds good. I usually shower in the morning, just a heads up.” Said Lance.

“Okay.” Keith said as he slung his towel over his shoulder.

“Alright, then. ‘Night.” Said Lance.

“’Night.” Said Keith.

As Lance undressed and got into his bed, he had one thought running through his mind:

_‘Fuck.’_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It was just a confusing time for my little brother and I. My sister was away at college, my mom was a mess. It sucked.” He shrugged. “It’s why I joined band, though, so that’s a good thing. Met lots of cool people. You included.” Lance smiled.  
> Keith half-smiled and looked at his hands fiddling in his lap.  
> 'Why did I say that? Oh my god, he’s gonna get the wrong idea.' Lance thought, not visibly, but seriously internally panicking. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He couldn’t help but feel like Keith could hear it.  
> Keith, on the other hand was looking down so Lance wouldn’t see that his cheeks were visibly pink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi all! i meant to post last night but i, uh, had one too many pineapple and malibus. anyway, here's chapter three!  
> full disclaimer, Lance's little family tree is fully based off of my own. I'm sorry if it confuses anyone, but if it's any help, it doesn't play a big role in this story, just provides a backstory for Lance.  
> I also apologize that this is a shorter chapter! I kept changing how I was going to introduce Romelle.  
> anyway, thank you for reading. enjoy this chapter!

Day 2

Keith woke up to music. It was coming from the restroom. He was annoyed at first until he heard a second voice singing along. It was Lance. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Keith’s heart started to beat slightly faster as he listened to his roommates’ voice singing.

_Loving is easy_

_You had me fucked up_

_It used to be so hard to see_

_Yeah, loving is easy_

_When everything’s perfect_

_Please don’t change a single little thing for me_

As Lance began to vocalize along with the song, Keith’s heartbeat sped up. He had such a beautiful voice. In his opinion, anyway.

Keith had more than enough time to get ready that he just sat there listening to Lance sing until he walked out of the restroom.

Lance peaked over to Keith’s side of the room and noticed Keith sitting up. He looked smaller than usual while sitting there. It was cute, as was his slight bedhead.

“Oh, shit. I didn’t wake you up, did I?” asked Lance in a slightly panicked voice.

“Hm? Oh, no, I usually just wake up on my own and you just happened to be showering.” Keith lied. It’s not like he was mad about being woken up.

“Oof, thank God. I would’ve felt horrible if I’d woken you up.” Lance said, clearly relieved.

“I usually wake up early anyway so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.” He said as he threw his comforter off of himself. Lance’s face flushed as Keith rose from his bed. Keith wasn’t ripped, but he was definitely more fit than other seventeen year-olds.

“So, uh. You gonna get dressed or…?” Keith asked Lance, who had a towel wrapped around his waist.

“What? Oh! Yeah. I’m gonna do that.” Lance said, turning around to walk to his side of the room.

Why was he so flushed? He knew the answer deep down, but he denied it. It’s not like he was ashamed of having crushes on boys, he was very open when it came to that. He just didn’t want to catch feelings for the first person outside of his friend group and get shit from his band friends.

His thoughts were interrupted by four sharp knocks on the door. He peaked over as he put his shirt on and saw Keith open it, revealing Shiro.

“Just doing my morning wake up rounds.” Shiro said. “Not surprised to see you awake, though. Your roommate up?”

“Yeah, I think he’s still getting ready.” Keith said.

“Cool. I’m gonna go finish my rounds. Be down in…” he looked at the time on his phone “…about forty minutes.”

Shiro reached his hand through the cracked doorway and tousled Keith’s hair.

“Get a brush through this, yeah?” Shiro said jokingly. Keith rolled his eyes and pretended to shut the door on Shiro’s arm. Shiro laughed and walked down the hall. Keith sat back down on his bed.

Lance walked over to Keith’s side of the room.

“You two get along really well.” Lance said. “Is it just you two?”

“Hm? Oh. Yeah. It’s always been just us. Or at least that’s all I’ve really known.” He shrugged. "I don’t want to give you a whole sob story, but my dad died in an accident when I was seven and when Shiro was thirteen. He was a firefighter. Our mom was already not in the picture much, so we both went into the system after that. After Shiro aged out, he fought to be able to take care of me. I got kicked from one too many schools, so that’s why I’m a homeschool kid. It’s just been me, Shiro, and Adam for about four years.”

“Adam?” Lance asked.

“Shiro’s boyfriend.” Keith said.

“Oh, my god. I have a chance?!” Lance said jokingly. Keith chuckled lightly.

Keith’s face felt hot. So, he _was_ …

“What about you? Do you have siblings?” Keith asked, wanting to divert the conversation away from himself.

“Three half-sisters, a brother, and a step-brother.” Lance said. “Though, I didn’t know my sister Veronica was my half-sister until I was thirteen. I don’t see my other two half-sisters like…ever. They’re from my dad’s first marriage and they’re older than me. My sister Veronica’s the child of my mom and her asshole ex-boyfriend in the 90’s. My dad legally adopted Veronica and then I came eight years later. And then my little brother Ramiro came another eight years later. My parents got divorced like four or five years ago and my mom got remarried last fall and now I have a step-sibling who’s the same age as me.”

“Wow.” Was all Keith could say.

“Yeah, it’s a whole clusterfuck, but we manage.” Lance said. “And while the whole divorce thing was really shitty on everyone, my parents are chill with each other now. Still going to therapy for all that, though.” Lance half-joked.

Keith looked at him. He didn’t seem like the therapy type. He seemed too…happy? But who was he to judge?

Lance brushed it off.

“It was just a confusing time for my little brother and I. My sister was away at college, my mom was a mess. It sucked.” He shrugged. “It’s why I joined band, though, so that’s a good thing. Met lots of cool people. You included.” Lance smiled.

Keith half-smiled and looked at his hands fiddling in his lap.

 _Why did I say that? Oh my god, he’s gonna get the wrong idea._ Lance thought, not visibly, but seriously internally panicking. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He couldn’t help but feel like Keith could hear it.

Keith, on the other hand was looking down so Lance wouldn’t see that his cheeks were visibly pink.

_You included._

_You included._

_You included._

The words ran through his head a dozen times. He’d never met anyone glad to meet him. He was as surprised as Shiro that he hadn’t punched this kid yet. But there was something about him that was just so…un-punchable.

Suddenly a continuous knocking came from their door.

“I’ll get it.” They said in unison.

“I’m already standing.” Lance said. “Plus, I know who it is.”

Lance opened the door. It was Hunk. He looked like he’d woken up not too long ago, but he looked ready for the day. Sort of.

“Dude.” Hunk yawned. “You ready to go downstairs?” he asked.

“Are _you_?” Lance asked, laughing. “Dude, your shirt is inside out and backwards.”

“Oh.” He examined his shirt. “That it is. Easy fix.”

Hunk took his shirt off, rearranged it to be right side in, and put it on so that the logo that was on his back before was on the front this time.

Keith listened to the two talk. He felt jealous in a way. Not because they were talking, because that would be ridiculous. Plus, it was clear that Hunk and Pidge had something going on. He felt jealous because Hunk knew more about Lance than he did. He wanted to know everything about Lance.

Lance turned to Keith, who looked deep into thought.

“Hey.” He said softly. Keith snapped out of his thoughts and looked at him. “Wanna head downstairs with us?” Lance asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Lemme just get my stuff ready.” Keith said.

“No, yeah, same.” Lance said. “You can come in, Hunk.” He said to Hunk, who was already walking in.

“Morning.” He said to Keith.

Keith smiled and nodded in reply. He got up and started packing his backpack, making sure he had everything. The last thing he wanted was to ask someone for a pencil or something.

On the other side of the room, Lance was doing the same. Hunk leaned against the wall, watching Lance. Something was bothering him.

“You okay, man?” Hunk asked.

Lance shoved a pencil case into his bag. “Yeah, why?” He shoved a water bottle in his bag.

“I don’t know. You just seem…on edge?” Hunk said. He lowered his voice. “Is he giving you a hard time?”

“What? No. I just…” he trailed off. “Can we talk about this later? Please?” Lance asked.

So, something _was_ bothering him.

“Yeah, man, whenever. You know I’m here for you.”

“You ready?” Lance asked, clearly not wanting to talk about it anymore.

“Yep.” Hunk said.

Lance walked over to Keith’s side of the room. He was sitting on his bed, looking at his phone, and looked up when Lance appeared.

“You ready?” Lance asked. Keith nodded and stood up.

Lance opened the door and walked out of the room, followed by Hunk. Keith was last, so he locked the door. The three of them walked down the stairs and out to the courtyard. They were met with Pidge and a shy-looking girl with huge eyes and long blonde hair. She seemed familiar.

“Morning, guys! This is my roommate, Romelle. Romelle, these are my friends, Lance and Hunk, and that’s Keith, Lance’s roommate.” Pidge said.

“Hello.” Romelle said quietly.

“I promise she’s much louder and chaotic.” Pidge said, nudging Romelle’s arm. Romelle smiled. There was a slight mischief behind it. “She’s really smart, too. I was thinking…maybe she could join us for the…you know. Since she’s also a senior. She’s been going here as long as we have.”

That connected the dots for Lance.

“Oh! You play flute, right? I thought you looked familiar.” Lance said. She smiled and nodded.

“You play alto sax, right?” She said to Lance. He nodded. “And you play…in percussion…?” she said to Hunk, unsure.

“Yep. I get it, it’s hard to remember when we’re all in the way back.” He said, smiling.

She looked a little past Lance, at Keith.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” she said.

Lance answered for him. He could hear Keith in the back of his mind, yesterday in the cafeteria; _I'm not good with new people._

“He’s new here. He’s also a senior and he plays trumpet.” said Lance.

“Oh, okay. Cool.” She said.

They all talked until the courtyard was full of students. They parted ways into their groups for attendance. As soon as attendance was done, the groups headed towards the cafeteria for breakfast.

Inside, they all met back up, Romelle included. They sat at the same table as they day before at dinner and pulled up a chair for her.

“Man, if this cafeteria can do one thing, it’s breakfast burritos. I could have these for every meal.” He said with a mouthful of food. He took another bite. “You know what this burrito needs?”

“Sriracha.” Hunk and Pidge said together. The three of them laughed.

Pidge nudged Romelle and motioned for her to watch Lance. Lance put his bag in his lap and dug around. He smiled as he pulled out a lanyard with too many keychains on it. He unclipped something from it and put the lanyard back into his bag.

“Travel-sized hot sauce?” said Keith, who laughed slightly.

“Not just any hot sauce. Sriracha sauce.” Lance said. “I’ll eat this with literally anything.”

“Why?” asked Keith.

“My mom got me hooked on it. She was eating it with some ramen when I was, like, thirteen. She doesn’t like to drink the soup, so I drink it when she’s done with the noodles. Man, that changed everything for me. Anyway, I eat it mostly with breakfast tacos and burritos.”

He squeezed a glob onto the already bitten end of the burrito and basically fell out of his chair.

“Does anyone wanna try? Please, someone else has to try it.”

Keith shrugged. “I’ll try. I love spicy food.”

“Oh, thank god.” Lance said.

He tore off the other end of his burrito, making sure to not get too much tortilla. He put a glob on the piece and handed it to Keith. Keith ate the whole thing in one bite.

“Oh, my god.” He said quietly. “Where has this been my whole life?” He swallowed the food.

“Finally, someone who understands!” Lance said triumphantly.

“You guys are a match made in heaven.” Pidge joked.

This caused both of the boys to flush.

“Ha, ha, Pidge.” Said Lance, clearly taken aback by the comment.

 _God, is it that noticeable? Can they tell?_ He wondered.

The rest of breakfast felt off between Lance and Keith. Pidge’s comment made them feel equally strange. The others didn’t seem to notice. They both unconsciously scooted away from one another. Breakfast finally ended and the group headed for the PAC. When they arrived, each person grabbed their instrument and headed to their sectionals. Lance lingered behind. He wanted to talk to Keith.

“Hey, man.” He said to Keith as the last few people were leaving the band hall. “I’m sorry about Pidge at breakfast. She likes to poke fun at me a lot. I’m sorry if she made you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s okay. I guess I’m just not used to joking around with people like that.”

“Okay. I feel like I need to say something else to make it better. I don’t know.” Lance said.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. Seriously, I didn’t mind. I like her sense of humor.” Keith said. He gripped the handle on his trumpet case. He could feel his cheeks getting warm. He smiled. He looked at the time on his phone.

“Oh, shit.” He said. “I gotta go. My sectionals are upstairs, and the elevator is out of order.” 

They both walked out of the band hall.

“Alright. I’ll see you in theory?” Lance asked.

“You’re in my theory class?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, I guess we just didn’t sit anywhere near each other yesterday. I’ll save you a seat.” Said Lance. He began to walk backwards so he could still look at Keith. Keith smiled and nodded.

With that, Keith turned and began to jog in the direction of the stairs. Lance watched him turn the corner and finally turned around to join his sectional class.


End file.
